Bell XFL Airabonita
The Bell XFL Airabonita was a United States experimental shipboard interceptor aircraft developed for the United States Navy by Bell Aircraft. It was similar to and a parallel development of the land-based P-39 Airacobra, differing mainly in the use of a tailwheel undercarriage in place of the P-39's tricycle gear. Only one prototype was manufactured. Design and development The XFL-1 (Bell Model 5) was powered by a single Allison XV-1710-6 piston engine installed amidships behind the pilot and driving a three bladed Curtiss propeller in the nose through a 10.38 ft (3.16 m) extension shaft. The aircraft had provisions for a single 37 mm (1.46 in) Oldsmobile T9 cannon which could be replaced by a .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2/AN machine gun through the propeller shaft and two .30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns in the fuselage nose. It first flew on 13 May 1940.Bowers 1979, pp. 26–30. Although based on the P-39, the XFL-1 utilised a conventional tail-wheel undercarriage and the coolant radiators were housed externally in fairings under the wings instead of within the wing center section. The Allison engine was the first of its type to be tried out by the Navy and lacked the turbosupercharger fitted to the XP-39. Operational history Delivery of the prototype to the U.S. Navy was delayed due to difficulties with the Allison engine until February 1941 and it was not accepted as navy property until March. During tests, the aircraft was plagued with engine and landing gear problems and was returned to Bell for modifications in December 1941, but before the modifications were completed, the U.S. Navy decided that the XFL-1 was not suitable for further development. As a possible further reason for the rejection it is often stated that the Navy's position during that era was that all its aircraft should use air-cooled engines (while the Allison was liquid-cooled). This appears unfounded speculation. The U.S. Navy "would consider a liquid-cooled engine installation provided a material increase in performance over air-cooled engine can be shown."Thomason 2008, p. 1. In addition, the Allison engine had only a single-speed supercharger, consequently, its altitude performance was much inferior to other naval fighters of the period such as the Grumman F4F Wildcat. Lastly, the Airabonita had to compete against the considerably faster Vought F4U Corsair, the first U.S. Navy fighter to exceed 400 mph (644 km/h) in level flight.Thomason 2008, p. 49. The XFL-1 was later used, grounded, for armament tests, and later destroyed. For many years its remains were visible at the dump at U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.Dorr and Scutts 2000, p. 20.Thomason 2008, p. 52. Operators ;United States *United States Navy Specifications (XFL-1 Airabonita) |crew=One |length main=29 ft 9 in |length alt=9.07 m |span main=35 ft 0 in |span alt=10.67 m |height main=12 ft 9 in |height alt=3.89 m |area main=232 ft² |area alt=21.6 m² |empty weight main=5,161 lb |empty weight alt=2,341 kg |loaded weight main=6,651 lb |loaded weight alt=3,017 kg |max takeoff weight main=7,212 lb |max takeoff weight alt=3,271 kg |more general= |engine (prop)=Allison XV-1710-6 |type of prop=V-12 piston engine |number of props=1 |power main=1,150 hp |power alt=858 kW |max speed main=307 mph |max speed alt=464 km/h |range main=1,072 mi |range alt=1,725 km |ceiling main=30,900 ft |ceiling alt=9,421 m |climb rate main=2,630 ft/min |climb rate alt=13.4 m/s |loading main=29 lb/ft² |loading alt=140 kg/m² |power/mass main=0.17 hp/lb |power/mass alt=280 W/kg |more performance= |guns= **2 × 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns **1 × 0.50 cal (12.7 mm) machine gun or 37 mm cannon }} See also * Bell P-39 Airacobra * Bell P-63 Kingcobra References Notes Citations Bibliography * Bowers, Peter M. "Airborne Cobra Pt.II". Airpower, Vol. 9, No. 1, January 1979. * Dorr, Robert F. and Jerry C. Scutts. Bell P-39 Airacobra. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK: The Crowood Press Ltd., 2000. ISBN 1-86126-348-1. * Green, William. "Bell XFL-1 Airabonita". War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Four: Fighters. London: Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961 (6th impression 1969), pp. 13–14. ISBN 0-356-01448-7. * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "Bell XFL-1 Airabonita". WW2 Aircraft Fact Files: US Navy and Marine Corps Fighters. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1976, p. 3. ISBN 0-356-08222-9. * Kinzey, Bert. "XFL-1 Airabonita". P-39 Airacobra - in detail. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc., 1999, p. 8. ISBN 978-1-88897-416-4. * Thomason, Tommy. Bell XFL-1 Airabonita (Naval Fighters Number Eighty-One). Simi Valley, California: Ginter Books, 2008. ISBN 0-942612-81-7. * Tomalik, Jacek. Bell P-6 Kingcobra, XFL-1 Airabonita, P-39 Airacobra (Monografie Lotnicze 59) (in Polish). Gdansk, Poland: AJ-Press, 2001. ISBN 83-7237-034-6. External links Category:Carrier-based aircraft FL1 Airabonita